Prompt III - Ira Shor
My class is very challenging because of their delayed in reading and writing and my student does not fit in to the normal norm of society. Children with development delays are often have no self confident and feel that they could not accomplish anything. My teacher is doing everything she can to help her students with their confident and self esteem. She is doing what Ira Shor said about a passive curriculum that encourages a student to be more involved in the classroom.

In order for her students to become critical and skilled workers, my teachers have to come up with creative learning methods for her class. The class is in three academic levels. Although they are all working on the same page, each group will be working on a different strategy to help them accomplish their goals. During a spelling lesson, group will be matching pictures with words, while group two will be working on phonics and finally group three will be doing an actual spelling test. Each student is treated as an individual and that’s how they are assessed individually as each student is on a different level. Mrs. D is able to accomplish these tasks because this class has two aides helping out. This goes along with Shor’s argument that a curriculum designed to empower students must be transformative to help students become effective members of society.

Shor also said that “human beings are capable of overcoming limits if they can openly examine them. The participatory class offers that possibility.” Mrs. D is constantly challenging her students. As part of their writing lesson, each student is required to read a non-fiction book. They are to come up with three new facts and three things they would like to know about the topic of their books. Each student will share something new they have learned with the class. She grades them on their presentation and participation and how much though was put on the project. Students, who have problem expressing themselves in words, are encouraged to draw a picture of the subject with labeled parts.

One thing that amazed me is the weekly group projects she has them work on. Each week is new and it is always something that required the students to use their imagination and be creative. Last week their project was making an accordion book and this week since it is reading week in their school the students worked on marking their own book marks. These are projects that I looked forward to doing with the students, as I am able to interact with them and see their creative sides. During these projects Mrs. D looks for how well they are listening and following directions.

I see some of Shor argument in this classroom, there is a lot of active learning going on in this classroom. The students are encouraged to be creative and to use their imagination; everyone is encouraged to participate in this class.